Rotary engine.



PATENTED JAN. 24, 1905. F. G. KEITH.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 19,1004.

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I IEIi No. 780,890- PATENTED JAN. 24, 1905.

F- CL KEITH. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19 1904.

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Patented January 24, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

FINLEY o. KEITH, OF GALIGHER, orno.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N30. 780,890, dated January 24, 1905.

Application filed November 19, 1904:, Serial No. 233,501- I To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FINLEY O. KEITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galigher, in the county of Guernsey, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to steam-engines, and more particularly to rotary steam-engines, and has for its object to provide a rotary engine which will operate without the use of a fly-Wheel, which may be easily reversed, and which may be adjusted to compensate for wear.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description, and it will be understood that modifications of the specific construction shown may be made, and any suitable materials may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which likenumerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view'of the engine with one-half of the casing removed. Fig. 2 is a top plan'view of the en: gine. Fig. 3 is an end View. Fig. ,4: is a section on line 4 i of Fig. 2,taken longitudinally of one of the slides. Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the throttle-disks. Fig. 6 is a detail View of one of the slides.

Referring now to the drawings, the present invention comprises a frame 5, in which there is secured at its ends a casing 6, which is diform a continuous'roircular passage 10," which acts as the steam-chest of the engine, as will be presently explained.

A pluralityqof-bosses 11, are formed upon theouterfaceof the portion 8 of the casing,

similarsbosses 12 being formed upon the outer face of the portion 7 the bossesof each portion being spaced equally from each other and those of the two portions lying in alinement with each other transversely of the casing.

Formed within the bosses 11 and opening through the inner face of the portion 8 are passages 11, these passages extending into the wall of the chamber 9 and communicating with this chamber, the outer walls of the passages lying inwardly of the inner wall of the steam chest 10. Similar passages 12 are formed inthe bosses 12 and register with the passages 11, and formed through the inner wall of the steam-chest 10 and communicating with these registering passages are circular passages 13 for apurpose to be presently described.

Openings 14 are formed through the portions '7 and 8, centrally thereof, and communicate with the chamber 9, and passed through these openings, which are concentric with the chamber 9,there is a shaft 15,journaled in bearings vl6 in the sides of the frame. A piston 17 is secured to the shaft 15 and lies Within the chamber 9, the piston being inthe form of a disk and lying with its periphery spaced from the outer .wall of the chamber. The

side faces of the piston are provided with I packing-disks 18, which prevent. the leakage of steam between the piston and the walls of the chamber, these packing-disks being secured to the piston inwardly from their edges, so as to permit of movement of their outer portions away from the piston, and at their inner corners the packing-rings are beveled, as shown at 19, to permit the entrance of steam between the rings and the piston to inner edges, these openings being of asize to permit of the passage of the pistons 20 therethrough, and these slides lie normally with their openings in the passages 11, the inner edges of the slides resting against the periphery of the piston 17.

Formed through the ends of the bosses 12 are openings 23, and slidably engaged in these openings are rods 24:, which are secured to the slides 21. Each of the rods 24 carriesa crosshead 25 at its outer end, which is adjustable longitudinally thereof and which is mounted between parallel guides 26, these guides being secured at one end to the bosses and at the other end to a member 27.

Each of the cross-heads 25 carries a stubshaft 28, which extends in the direction of the shaft 15, these stub-shafts each carrying a roller 29, engaged in a groove 30, formed in the periphery of a disk 31, which is secured to the shaft 15. The groove 30 is provided with cam portions 32,extending away from the casing 6, the cam portions corresponding in number with the piston-heads 20 and being disposed with their centers in alinement with the slides transversely of the frame. This arrangement is such that as the disk 31 is revolved with the shaft 15 the slides 21 are retracted successively to bring their openings 22 into position to permit of the passage of the piston-heads 21 therethrough, as will be readily understood.

The slides 21 are T-shaped in cross-section, as shown, and formed vertically through the flanges 33 and 34: of the slides are openings 33 and 34:, respectively, these openings being adjacent to the ends of the slides to which the rods 24 are attached, and when the slides are in their normal positions the openings 33 and 34: lie within the inclosures of the openings 13.

Revolubly disposed in each of the openings 13 there is a throttle-disk 35, each of these disks having a passage 36 formed vertically therethrough, and these passages are arranged for interchangeable registration with the openings 33 and. 34:, the throttle-disks resting upon the outer faces of the slides.

Formed in the faces of the disks 35 which rest against the slides are grooves 37, opening at one end through the peripheries of the disks, and these grooves are arranged for registration with the outer ends of the openings 33 and 34 one of these grooves lying in registration with the opening 33 when the passage 36 is registered with the opening 34: while the other groove lies in registration with the opening 34: when the passage 36 is in registration with the opening 33. Formed through the portion 7 of the casing and communicating with the openings 13 are exhaustpassages 38, these passages 38 being so disposed that the ends of the grooves 37 may be interchangeably registered therewith, and the arrangement is such that when one of these grooves is registered with one of the openings 33 and 341 its outer end registers with the adjacent exhaust-passage 38.

The disks 35 are carried by shafts 39, which are journaled in suitable bearings, one of these shafts extending outwardly of the casing and being provided with a handle 40, by which it may be rotated to move its disk. The several shafts are provided with laterally-extending fingers 41. The finger of the shaft carrying the handle 10 is provided with a pair of perforations 42, in which are engaged the hooked ends of the rods 13, these rods being pivotal] y connected at their opposite ends with lingers 44, carried by rock-collars 45,journaled upon spindles 16, which are mounted in the steam-chest 10. The rock-collars are provided with other fingers, 47, which are connected, by means of rods 18, with the laterally-extending fingers 11 of the remaining shafts 39, it being understood that this arrangement is used when but three of said shafts are employed, the number of rods and rock-collars being increased or diminished to suit the arrangement of shafts. It will be apparent from the just-described arrangement that when the shaft carrying the handle is moved the other shafts and their disk will be similarly moved. The rock-collars, rods, &c., all lie within the steam-chest10.

Extending longitudinally through the slides are passages 49,which open at one end through the ends of the slides which lie in the passages 11 and at the other end communicate with the openings 22. Formed through the outer ends of the bosses 11 are exhaust-ports 50, which aline with the passages 49.

A steam-port 51 communicates with the steam-chest 10, and to this steam-port steam is conducted from a suitable source. Cocks 52 and 53 are provided at the bottoms of the chamber 9 and steam-chest 10, respectively, by means of which they may be drained.

In operation the throttle-disks 35 are moved to register their passages 36 with one of the openings 33' and 34'. It shall be assumed that the passages 36 have been alined with the opening 33. The steam admitted to the steamchest 10 will now pass downwardly through the alined passages and openings and will expand between the slides and the piston-heads 20, which will cause the piston 17 and the shaft 15 to revolve. As the piston-heads reach the slides successively these are retracted, as mentioned above, and the piston -heads passed through the openings 22, this movement of the slides bringing their openings 33 out of alinement with the passages 36, and thus cutting off the supply of steam. Movement of the slides to bring their openings 22 into the paths of movement of the piston-heads brings the passages 49 into communication with the chamber 9, and the arrangement of the disk 31 is such that the slides remain retracted until after the piston-heads have passed some distance therebeyond, so that the expanded steam behind the pistonheads passes out through the passages 49 and the exhaust-port 50, the exhaust-steam also passing out through the opening 34f and the grooves 37, which are in registration therewith, to the exhaust-passages 38. i I

When the positions of the disks 35 are re-. versed, the engine of course runs in the opposite direction. By reason of the fact. the crossheads 25 are adjustable upon the rods 24: the slides may be set to move at the correct time should any wear of the parts result in the engines getting out of adjustment.

The throttle-disks 35, as will be readily understood, may be moved to bring the passage 36 out of registration with both of the openings 33 and 34: to prevent the passage of steam to the engine.

What is claimed is 1. A rotary engine comprising acasing hav-" ing a circular chambertherewithin and a continuous steam-chest inclosing the chamber, said casing having openings communicating with the chamber and with the steam-chest, a

shaft revolubly mounted transversely of the casing, a piston mounted concentrically upon the shaft and lying within the chamber, the periphery of said piston lying in spaced relation to the outer wall of the chamber, pistonheads carried by the piston, slides mounted transversely of the casing and having openings therethrough, said'slides being arranged for movement to bring their openings and solid portions into and out of the paths of movement of the piston-heads, said pistonheads being of a size to pass through the openings, means for moving the slides to bring their openings into the paths of movement of the piston-heads when the piston-heads are in position to pass therethrough, openings formed through the slides and opening through the side and outer faces thereof, said openings being disposed to communicate with the chamber and with the passages of the casing when the solid portions of the slides are in the paths of movement of the piston-heads, and throttle-disks disposed in the passages of the casing and having passages therethrough, said throttle-disks being arranged for simultaneous movement to bring their passages into and out of registration with the secondnamed openings of the slides interchangeably, said throttle-disks having exhaust-grooves formed in their faces adjacent to the slides and arranged for registration with thesecondnamed openings of the slides with which the passages of the throttle-disks are out of registration, said casing having exhaust-openings therein arranged for registration with the exhaust-grooves, said slides having additional exhaust-passages therein communicating with openings formedtherethrough and opening through their side and outer faces, said casing having a steam-chest therein and having passages communicating with the steam-chest and arranged for communication with the openings of the slides when the latter are in the paths of movement of the piston-heads, I

throttle-disks disposedin the passages of the casing and resting against the slides, said throttle-disks having passages therethrough arranged for registration with the openings of the slides interchangeably for the passage of steam from the steam-chest to the cham ber, means for moving the slides out of the paths of movement of the piston-heads, said throttle-disks having exhaust-grooves formed therein and arranged for registration with the openings of the, slides with which the passages of the throttle-disks are out of registration, said casing having exhaust-ports therein arranged for registration with the exhaustgrooves, and connections between the throttle-disks for movement thereof simultaneously.

3. Ina rotary engine, the combination with a casing having a chamber therein and a piston revolubly mounted .in the chamber, of packing-disks disposed between the piston and the walls of the chamber, said packingdisks being secured to the piston inwardly from their edges, the inner corners of said packing-disks being beveled to permit of the passage of steam between the rings and the piston to force the former against the walls of the chamber.

4:. In a rotary engine, the combination with a casing having a chamber therein and apiston revolubly mounted in the chamber, of packing-disks disposed between the piston and the walls of the chamber, said disks being secured to the piston and arranged for the passage of steam between themselves and the piston to hold the disks against the walls of the chamber.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FINLEY O. KEITH. 

